Editing Heroin (section)

===Illicit supply chain===

====Production====
Diamorphine is produced from [[acetylation]] of morphine derived from natural opium sources. One such method of heroin production involves isolation of the water-soluble components of raw opium, including morphine, in a strongly basic aqueous solution, followed by [[recrystallization (chemistry)|recrystallization]] of the morphine base by addition of [[ammonium chloride]]. The solid morphine base is then filtered out. The morphine base is then reacted with [[acetic anhydride]], which forms heroin. This highly impure brown heroin base may then undergo further purification steps, which produces a white-colored product; the final products have a different appearance depending on purity and have different names.<ref name="auto"/> Heroin purity has been classified into four grades. No.4 is the purest form – white powder (salt) to be easily dissolved and injected. No.3 is "brown sugar" for smoking (base). No.1 and No.2 are unprocessed raw heroin (salt or base).<ref>{{cite web |title=Heroin—Illicit Drug Report |publisher=Government of Australia |access-date=31 March 2014 |year=2004 |url=http://www.crimecommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/iddr_0304_heroin.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140212170007/https://www.crimecommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/iddr_0304_heroin.pdf |archive-date=12 February 2014}}</ref>

====Trafficking====
{{See also|Opium#Modern production and use}}

Traffic is heavy worldwide, with the biggest producer being [[Afghanistan]]. According to a U.N. sponsored survey,<ref name="UNODCSurvey">{{cite web|url=http://www.unodc.org/pdf/afg/afghanistan_opium_survey_2004.pdf|title=Afghanistan opium survey – 2004|publisher=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime|access-date=22 October 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061024170057/http://www.unodc.org/pdf/afg/afghanistan_opium_survey_2004.pdf|archive-date=24 October 2006}}</ref> in 2004, Afghanistan accounted for production of 87 percent of the world's diamorphine.<ref>{{cite news| vauthors = McGirk T | date =2 August 2004| url =http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/printout/0,13675,501040809-674806,00.html| title =Terrorism's Harvest: How al-Qaeda is tapping into the opium trade to finance its operations and destabilize Afghanistan| magazine =[[Time Asia]]| access-date =22 October 2006| url-status=dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070123133151/http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/printout/0,13675,501040809-674806,00.html| archive-date =23 January 2007}}</ref> Afghan opium kills around 100,000 people annually.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/21/un.heroin.trade/index.html |title=World failing to dent heroin trade, U.N. warns |work=CNN|date=21 October 2009 |access-date=20 July 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106182829/http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/21/un.heroin.trade/index.html |archive-date=6 November 2012}}</ref>

In 2003 ''[[The Independent]]'' reported:<ref>Andy McSmith and Phil Reeves. "Afghanistan regains its Title as World's biggest Heroin Dealer" in ''[[The Independent]]'', 22 June 2003</ref><ref>{{cite news | vauthors = North A |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3476377.stm |title=The drugs threat to Afghanistan |work=BBC |date=10 February 2004 |access-date=28 July 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015080956/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3476377.stm |archive-date=15 October 2013}}</ref>
{{blockquote|The cultivation of opium [in Afghanistan] reached its peak in 1999, when {{convert|350|sqmi|km2}} of poppies were sown&nbsp;... The following year the Taliban banned poppy cultivation,&nbsp;... a move which cut production by 94 percent&nbsp;... By 2001 only {{convert|30|sqmi|km2}} of land were in use for growing opium poppies. A year later, after American and British troops had removed the Taliban and installed the interim government, the land under cultivation leapt back to {{convert|285|sqmi|km2}}, with Afghanistan supplanting Burma to become the world's largest opium producer once more.}}

Opium production in that country has increased rapidly since, reaching an all-time high in 2006. [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|War in Afghanistan]] once again appeared as a facilitator of the trade.<ref>{{cite news| vauthors = Gall C | date =3 September 2006| url =https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/world/asia/03afghan.html| title =Opium Harvest at Record Level in Afghanistan| work =The New York Times| access-date =22 October 2006| url-status=live| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071228015047/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/world/asia/03afghan.html| archive-date =28 December 2007}}</ref> Some 3.3&nbsp;million Afghans are involved in producing opium.<ref>{{cite news | vauthors = Walsh D |url=https://www.theguardian.com/afghanistan/story/0,,2157313,00.html |title=UN horrified by surge in opium trade in Helmand |newspaper=Guardian |date= 30 August 2007|access-date=20 July 2012 |location=London}}</ref>
[[File:Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation 1994-2007b.PNG|thumb|right|300px|[[Opium production in Afghanistan|Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation]], 1994–2016 (hectares)]]
At present, opium poppies are mostly grown in Afghanistan ({{convert|224000|hectare}}), and in Southeast Asia, especially in the region known as the [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]] straddling [[Burma]] ({{convert|57600|hectare}}), [[Thailand]], [[Vietnam]], [[Laos]] ({{convert|6200|hectare}}) and [[Yunnan]] province in China. There is also cultivation of opium poppies in Pakistan ({{convert|493|hectare}}), Mexico ({{convert|12000|hectare}}) and in [[Colombia]] ({{convert|378|hectare}}).<ref name="UNODC2014">{{cite web | url=https://www.unodc.org/documents/crop-monitoring/Colombia/censo_INGLES_2014_WEB.pdf | title=Coca cultivation survey | publisher=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) | website=Report | date=July 2015 | access-date=28 May 2016 | author=Government of Colombia | pages=67 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413083056/https://www.unodc.org/documents/crop-monitoring/Colombia/censo_INGLES_2014_WEB.pdf | archive-date=13 April 2016}}</ref> According to the [[Drug Enforcement Administration|DEA]], the majority of the heroin consumed in the United States comes from Mexico (50%) and Colombia (43–45%) via Mexican criminal cartels such as [[Sinaloa Cartel]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2014/11/50-of-the-heroin-consumed-in-the-united-states-is-produced-in-mexico/ | title = 50% of the Heroin consumed in the United States is produced in Mexico | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151102193328/http://www.theyucatantimes.com/2014/11/50-of-the-heroin-consumed-in-the-united-states-is-produced-in-mexico/ | archive-date=2 November 2015 | work = The Yucatan Times | date = 26 November 2014 }}</ref> However, these statistics may be significantly unreliable, the DEA's 50/50 split between Colombia and Mexico is contradicted by the amount of hectares cultivated in each country and in 2014, the DEA claimed most of the heroin in the US came from Colombia.<ref name="InSight">{{cite web | url=http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/mexico-cartel-takeover-of-us-heroin-market-questionable | title=Sinaloa Cartel's Takeover of US Heroin Market Questionable | publisher=InSight Crime | website=Website | date=26 May 2016 | access-date=28 May 2016 | vauthors = Yagoub M | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527122359/http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/mexico-cartel-takeover-of-us-heroin-market-questionable | archive-date=27 May 2016}}</ref>
{{As of|2015}}, the Sinaloa Cartel is the most active [[drug cartel]] involved in smuggling illicit drugs such as heroin into the United States and trafficking them throughout the United States.<ref name="DEA 2015 assessment">{{cite web|title=2015 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary|url=http://www.dea.gov/docs/2015%20NDTA%20Report.pdf|website=Drug Enforcement Administration|publisher=United States Department of Justice: Drug Enforcement Administration|access-date=10 April 2016|pages=1–2|date=October 2015|quote=Mexican TCOs pose the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group is currently positioned to challenge them. These Mexican poly-drug organizations traffic heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana throughout the United States, using established transportation routes and distribution networks.&nbsp;... While all of these Mexican TCOs transport wholesale quantities of illicit drugs into the United States, the Sinaloa Cartel appears to be the most active supplier. The Sinaloa Cartel leverages its expansive resources and dominance in Mexico to facilitate the smuggling and transportation of drugs throughout the United States.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410100038/http://www.dea.gov/docs/2015%20NDTA%20Report.pdf|archive-date=10 April 2016}}</ref> According to the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]], 90% of the heroin seized in Canada (where the origin was known) came from Afghanistan.<ref name="RMCP">{{cite web | url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/u-s-raises-alarm-over-afghan-heroin-flowing-through-canada | title=U.S. raises alarm over Afghan heroin flowing through Canada | newspaper=[[Ottawa Citizen]] | date=20 November 2014 | access-date=28 May 2016 | vauthors = Berthiaume L | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615054458/http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/u-s-raises-alarm-over-afghan-heroin-flowing-through-canada | archive-date=15 June 2016}}</ref> Pakistan is the destination and transit point for 40 percent of the opiates produced in Afghanistan, other destinations of Afghan opiates are Russia, Europe and Iran.<ref name="NYT2014">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/opinion/afghanistans-unending-addiction.html | title=Afghanistan's Unending Addiction | work=The New York Times | date=26 October 2014 | access-date=28 May 2016 | author=Editorial Board | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160814143949/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/opinion/afghanistans-unending-addiction.html | archive-date=14 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unodc.org/pakistan/en/country-profile.html|title=Country Profile: Pakistan|publisher=[[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime]]|access-date=5 January 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405032932/http://www.unodc.org/pakistan/en/country-profile.html|archive-date=5 April 2015}}</ref>

A conviction for trafficking heroin carries the death penalty in most [[Southeast Asian]], some [[East Asian]] and Middle Eastern countries (see [[Use of death penalty worldwide]] for details), among which [[Malaysia]], Singapore and [[Thailand]] are the strictest. The penalty applies even to citizens of countries where the penalty is not in place, sometimes causing controversy when foreign visitors are arrested for trafficking, for example, the arrest of [[Bali Nine|nine Australians in Bali]], the [[death sentence]] given to [[Nola Blake]] in Thailand in 1987, or the hanging of an Australian citizen [[Van Tuong Nguyen]] in Singapore.

=====Routes=====
[[File:CIA Map of International illegal drug connections.gif|thumb|400px|International drug routes]]

======The Balkan route======
The Balkan route remains the principal corridor for trafficking illegal opiates, primarily heroin, from Afghanistan to Western and Central Europe, with criminal networks-often highly organized and adaptable-leveraging both legal businesses and corruption to facilitate the smuggling, storage, and distribution of drugs. These groups generate enormous illicit profits, with the annual gross income from drug trafficking along the Balkan route estimated between $13.9 and $21.4 billion from 2019 to 2022, of which up to half is illegally moved across borders through complex financial flows that include shell companies, cryptocurrencies, and informal systems like [[hawala]]. The majority of these profits, around 90 percent, come from opiates, and the scale of this income rivals or exceeds the GDP of several countries along the route. The movement of these illicit funds not only sustains and expands drug trafficking operations but also undermines economic stability and governance in affected countries, making the Balkan route a persistent and multifaceted challenge for law enforcement and policymakers in the region.<ref>{{cite web |title=Four Key Takeaways from Opiates and Methamphetamine: Trafficking on the Balkan Route |url=https://www.unodc.org/unodc/frontpage/2025/March/four-key-takeaways-from-opiates-and-methamphetamine_-trafficking-on-the-balkan-route.html |website=United Nations : Office on Drugs and Crime |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=EU Drug Market: Heroin and other opioids — Criminal networks operating in the heroin market {{!}} www.euda.europa.eu |url=https://www.euda.europa.eu/publications/eu-drug-markets/heroin-and-other-opioids/criminal-networks_en |website=www.euda.europa.eu}}</ref>

=====Trafficking history=====
[[File:HeroinWorld-en.svg|thumb|400px|Primary worldwide producers of heroin]]

The origins of the present international illegal heroin trade can be traced back to laws passed in many countries in the early 1900s that closely regulated the production and sale of opium and its derivatives including heroin. At first, heroin flowed from countries where it was still legal into countries where it was no longer legal. By the mid-1920s, heroin production had been made illegal in many parts of the world. An illegal trade developed at that time between heroin labs in China (mostly in Shanghai and Tianjin) and other nations. The weakness of the government in China and conditions of civil war enabled heroin production to take root there. Chinese [[Triad society|triad]] gangs eventually came to play a major role in the illicit heroin trade. The [[French Connection]] route started in the 1930s.

Heroin trafficking was virtually eliminated in the US during [[World War II]] because of temporary trade disruptions caused by the war. Japan's war with China had cut the normal distribution routes for heroin and the war had generally disrupted the movement of opium. After World War II, [[Sicilian Mafia|the Mafia]] took advantage of the weakness of the postwar Italian government and set up heroin labs in Sicily which was located along the historic route opium took westward into Europe and the United States.<ref>Eric C. Schneider, ''Smack: Heroin and the American City'', University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008, chapter one</ref> Large-scale international heroin production effectively ended in China with the victory of the communists in the civil war in the late 1940s.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}} The elimination of Chinese production happened at the same time that Sicily's role in the trade developed.

Although it remained legal in some countries until after World War II, health risks, addiction, and widespread recreational use led most western countries to declare heroin a controlled substance by the latter half of the 20th century. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the [[CIA]] supported anti-Communist Chinese Nationalists settled near the [[China|Sino]]-Burmese border and [[Hmong people|Hmong]] tribesmen in [[Laos]]. This helped the development of the [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]] opium production region, which supplied about one-third of heroin consumed in the US after the 1973 American withdrawal from Vietnam. In 1999, Burma, the heartland of the Golden Triangle, was the second-largest producer of heroin, after [[Afghanistan]].<ref name="Afghan_Burmese_heroin">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1590827.stm|title=War Views: Afghan heroin trade will live on.|date=October 2001|work=Richard Davenport-Hines|publisher=BBC|access-date=30 October 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115095732/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1590827.stm|archive-date=15 January 2009}}</ref>

The Soviet-Afghan war led to increased production in the Pakistani-Afghan border regions, as US-backed [[mujaheddin]] militants raised money for arms from selling opium, contributing heavily to the modern [[Golden Crescent]] creation. By 1980, 60 percent of the heroin sold in the US originated in Afghanistan.<ref name="Afghan_Burmese_heroin"/> It increased international production of heroin at lower prices in the 1980s. The trade shifted away from Sicily in the late 1970s as various criminal organizations violently fought with each other over the trade. The fighting also led to a stepped-up government law enforcement presence in Sicily.

Following the discovery at a Jordanian airport of a [[toner cartridge]] that had been modified into an [[improvised explosive device]], the resultant increased level of airfreight scrutiny led to a major shortage (drought) of heroin from October 2010 until April 2011. This was reported in most of mainland Europe and the UK which led to a price increase of approximately 30 percent in the cost of street heroin and increased demand for diverted [[methadone]]. The number of addicts seeking treatment also increased significantly during this period. Other heroin droughts (shortages) have been attributed to cartels restricting supply in order to force a price increase and also to a fungus that attacked the opium crop of 2009. Many people{{weasel inline|date=April 2014}} thought that the American government had introduced pathogens into the Afghanistan atmosphere in order to destroy the opium crop and thus starve insurgents of income.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

On 13 March 2012, [[Haji Bagcho]], with ties to the [[Taliban]], was convicted by a US District Court of conspiracy, distribution of heroin for importation into the United States and [[narco-terrorism]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Haji Bagcho Sentenced To Life in Prison on Narco-Terrorism, Drug Trafficking Charges – Funded Taliban, Responsible for Almost 20 Percent of World's Heroin Production, More Than a Quarter-Billion in Drug Proceeds, Property Forfeited|url=http://aikenleader.villagesoup.com/news/story/haji-bagcho-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-on-narco-terrorism-drug-trafficking-charges/838118|website=The Aiken Leader|access-date=7 June 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615215354/http://aikenleader.villagesoup.com/news/story/haji-bagcho-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-on-narco-terrorism-drug-trafficking-charges/838118|archive-date=15 June 2012}}</ref><ref name="justice2006">{{cite web|title=Haji Bagcho Convicted by Federal Jury in Washington, D.C., on Drug Trafficking and Narco-terrorism Charges – Afghan National Trafficked More Than 123,000 Kilograms of Heroin in 2006|date=13 March 2012 |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/March/12-crm-320.html|publisher=US Department of Justice|access-date=7 June 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713015227/http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/March/12-crm-320.html|archive-date=13 July 2012}}</ref><ref name="surfky1">{{cite web|title=Haji Bagcho Sentenced to Life in Prison on Trafficking/Narco-Terrorism Charges|url=http://surfky.com/index.php/news/national/15973-haji-bagcho-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-on-traffickingnarco-terrorism-charges|publisher=Surfky News|access-date=7 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116103054/http://surfky.com/index.php/news/national/15973-haji-bagcho-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-on-traffickingnarco-terrorism-charges |archive-date=16 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="foster1">{{cite web| vauthors = Foster Z |title=Haji Bagcho, One of World's Largest Heroin Traffickers, Convicted on Drug Trafficking, Narco-Terrorism Charges|date=23 March 2012 |url=http://terrorism-online.blogspot.com/2012/03/haji-bagcho-one-of-worlds-largest.html|publisher=War on Terrorism Online|access-date=7 June 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116143405/http://terrorism-online.blogspot.com/2012/03/haji-bagcho-one-of-worlds-largest.html|archive-date=16 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="tucker1">{{cite news| vauthors = Tucker E |title=Afghan heroin trafficker gets life in US prison |url=http://www.katu.com/news/national/158797915.html |access-date=7 June 2012 |newspaper=Associated Press |date=12 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514223906/http://www.katu.com/news/national/158797915.html |archive-date=14 May 2013}}</ref> Based on heroin production statistics<ref>{{cite web|title=2007 WORLD DRUG REPORT|url=http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/wdr07/WDR_2007.pdf|publisher=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime|access-date=26 July 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912022032/http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/wdr07/WDR_2007.pdf|archive-date=12 September 2012}}</ref> compiled by the [[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime]], in 2006, Bagcho's activities accounted for approximately 20 percent of the world's total production for that year.<ref name="justice2006"/><ref name="surfky1"/><ref name="foster1"/><ref name="tucker1"/>

====Street price====
[[File:Heroin in powder and pill forms.jpg|thumb|Heroin in powder & pill forms with [[balloons]]]]

The [[European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction]] reports that the retail price of brown heroin varies from €14.5 per gram in Turkey to €110 per gram in Sweden, with most European countries reporting typical prices of €35–40 per gram. The price of white heroin is reported only by a few European countries and ranged between €27 and €110 per gram.<ref>{{cite book |author=European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction |title=Annual report: the state of the drugs problem in Europe |year=2008 |publisher=Office for Official Publications of the European Communities |location=Luxembourg |isbn=978-92-9168-324-6 |page=70 |url=http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/attachements.cfm/att_64227_EN_EMCDDA_AR08_en.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425191815/http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/attachements.cfm/att_64227_EN_EMCDDA_AR08_en.pdf |archive-date=25 April 2013}}</ref>

The [[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime]] claims in its 2008 World Drug Report that typical US retail prices are US$172 per gram.<ref>{{cite book |author=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime |title=World drug report |year=2008 |publisher=United Nations Publications |isbn=978-92-1-148229-4 |page=49 |url=http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2008/WDR_2008_eng_web.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081215184124/http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2008/WDR_2008_eng_web.pdf |archive-date=15 December 2008}}</ref>